Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Confused would be a good way to describe the Blue Jays on Monday afternoon. Shaun Marcum was confused as to why he was hit with a $750 fine and Jose Bautista remained perplexed over why he seemed to have a target on his back.

Marcum’s fine from Major League Baseball stemmed from “hitting” Orioles DH Luke Scott with a pitch in the fourth inning of Sunday’s 5-2 win. Marcum grazed Scott with the first pitch of the frame — after Bautista had been hit by Baltimore righty Rick VandenHurk a half-inning earlier.

“Warnings weren’t even out,” Marcum said on Monday. “To hit somebody like that and get fined, I think it’s bad judgment on their part. I have good enough control that if I’m going to hit somebody I’ll hit them right in the middle of the back.”

Bautista also thought it was odd that Marcum faced a fine — one that the pitcher said he will definitely appeal.

“That’s kind of strange,” Bautista said.

Also strange to the Jays? The fact that the Orioles brought Alfredo Simon — primarily used for late-inning situations — into the game in the fifth inning on Sunday. Three pitches into his confrontation with Bautista, Simon sent one way inside and hit Toronto’s slugger on the arm.

Simon and O’s manager Buck Showalter were immediately ejected from the game. On Monday, Simon was hit with a three-game suspension and Showalter a one-game suspension.

“I think everybody felt that was intentional,” said Marcum, referring to Simon hitting Bautista. “He was a seventh, eighth-inning guy throwing in the fifth. I think he came in for one reason and one reason only. Like I said, I guess that’s how they want to do things over there.”

After the game, Simon noted that he was friends with Bautista. The Jays right fielder echoed that on Monday.

“That’s why I think he was just following orders,” Bautista said.

Bautista said the suspensions did not necessarily bring him any satisfaction.

“They were going to get what they deserved regardless,” he said with a shrug. “I think they knew what they were doing. The second time I got hit it was pretty obvious. I don’t care what their comments were after the game. I did read them. I don’t believe what they said.”

Those would be the postgame comments claiming that hitting Bautista was unintended.

If it was on purpose, Bautista was confused over Baltimore’s reasoning.

“I just don’t know what the message is,” he said. “What message can they be sending?”

One person heard the ball hit a neighboring condo building. Years from now, legend will claim that the baseball splashed into Lake Ontario. Maybe the story will be that it showed up on a beach on the Toronto island.

“I heard it hit a streetcar,” quipped Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston.

For now, the only certainty is that the foul ball that rocketed off Jose Bautista’s bat in the sixth inning on Saturday cleared the 500 level seats behind the third-base line, and then appeared to sail out of Rogers Centre.

Blue Jays third-base coach Brian Butterfield had a good view of the section where Bautista sent the 3-2 pitch from Orioles right-hander Jeremy Guthrie. Of course, as fate would have it, Butterfield did not watch the baseball the whole way.

“I took my eye off it and I wish I hadn’t,” Butterfield said. “I heard the crowd going nuts.”

Butterfield has since seen video footage of Bautista’s blast out of the cavernous ballpark, so he believes without a doubt that the baseball exited Rogers Centre and headed down toward Bremner Boulevard.

“How about that?” Butterfield said. “I don’t think I could do that with my driver.”

Gaston noted that he has only witnessed one other player who could pull a pitch out of a stadium like Bautista — the Major League leader with 52 home runs — did on Saturday. That was Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, who Gaston said could yank inside pitches out of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

“I used to see Hank do that,” Gaston said. “They’d throw him a high fastball and he’d hook it right out of the whole ballpark. That old ballpark in Atlanta, he’d hit it out right over the top of it just to say to that pitcher, ‘You can’t come in here.'”

Gaston did not see Bautista’s foul ball leave Rogers Centre, though.

“I didn’t get up to look at it,” he said. “I wish I had.”

In that case, maybe Bautista’s foul ball will wind up being a tall tale.

One day after becoming the 26th player in baseball history to belt at least 50 homers in one season, Jose Bautista had one heck of an encore. Bautista added Orioles righty Chris Tillman to his list of victims, belting a pair of homers to move two notches up baseball’s single-season list.

In the process, Bautista also established a unique Major League record…

A breakdown of Jose Bautista’s run to 50 home runs this season for the Blue Jays…

1. April 11 off Kevin Millwood2. April 19 off Brian Bannister3. April 19 off Luis Mendoza4. April 26 off Josh Beckett5. May 3 off Mitch Talbot6. May 4 off Jake Westbrook7. May 10 off John Lackey8. May 15 off Scott Feldman9. May 15 off Darren O’Day10. May 16 off Colby Lewis

11. May 17 off Kevin Slowey12. May 20 off Josh Vargas13. May 21 off Dan Haren14. May 23 off Billy Buckner15. May 25 off Ervin Santana16. May 30 off Will Ohman*17. June 4 off A.J. Burnett18. June 4 off A.J. Burnett19. June 22 off Jaime Garcia20. June 22 Kyle McClellan

21. July 3 off Andy Pettitte22. July 7 off Kevin Slowey23. July 8 off Ron Mahay24. July 10 off Ramon Ramirez25. July 17 off Jason Berkman26. July 20 off Anthony Lerew27. July 25 off Jeremy Bonderman28. July 26 off Brad Bergesen29. July 27 off Kevin Millwood30. July 27 off Alfredo Simon

*New career high**100th career home run***Tied George Bell’s 1987 single-season club record****New single-season franchise record for Blue Jays*****Becomes 26th player in baseball history to reach 50 in one season

The Blue Jays revealed the 2010 recipients of the organization’s R. Howard Webster Awards on Wednesday. The annual awards recognize the most valuable players at each of Toronto’s Minor League affiliates.

And the Websters go to:

Triple-A Las Vegas: C J.P. Arencibia

All JPA did this season was hit .301 with 32 home runs and 85 RBIs for Las Vegas, and those numbers might’ve been loftier had it not been for a brief stay in the big leagues prior to being called up in September. Arencibia was the Pacific Coast League MVP, put up a .986 OPS, piled up 70 extra-base hits and made the PCL’s mid-season and postseason All-Star teams.

Double-A New Hampshire: OF Eric Thames

Thames, 23, finished the season hitting .288 with 27 homers and 104 RBIs for the Fisher Cats. He led Toronto’s farm system in RBIs and paced the Eastern League as well. He tied for first in the EL with 58 extra-base hits and tied for second in homers. Thames made two All-Star teams as well.

Class A (advanced) Dunedin: 1B Mike McDade

McDade, 21, hit .267 with 21 home runs and 64 RBIs for the Dunedin Blue Jays this season. He led the Florida State League in homers, tied for second in total bases (215) and was fourth in slugging (.448). McDade led Dunedin in homers, RBIs, total bases, hits (128) and runs (60). Over the past two years, McDade has hit 37 homers.

Class A (low) Lansing: INF Sean Ochinko

Ochinko, 22, has taken home two Websters, earning one for his showing with Class A (short-season) Auburn in 2009. This year, he hit .311 with eight homers and 65 RBIs for Lansing. He finished fifth overall in the Midwest League in batting and led the Lugnuts in average and doubles (37).

Class A (short-season) Auburn: C Carlos Perez

Perez, 19, hit .298 with two homers and 41 RBIs for Auburn this season. Along with Arencibia and prospect Travis d’Arnaud, Perez gives the Jays three strong prospects behind the plate. Perez becomes the fourth plater in Blue Jays history to earn his third Webster Award. He was named to the New York-Penn League mid-season All-Star team and led the Doubledays in average, on-base percentage (.396) and RBIs.

Gulf Coast (rookie) League: OF Jake Marisnick

Marisnick, 19, combined to hit .253 with four homers and 26 RBIs between stints with the GCL Jays and low-Class A Lansing. He hit .287 with three homers and 14 RBIs for the GCL Jays. Marisnick was selected in the third round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft.

Dominican Summer League: P Eyerys Guerrero

Guerrero went 1-2 with a 3.23 ERA over 39 innings, during which he allowed 40 hits and ended with 11 strikeouts and six walks. The 17-year-old product of the Dominican Republic walked 1.4 batters per nine innings and started nine of the 13 games in which he appeared this season.

A familiar Black Eyed Peas beat was pumping through the sound system in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse this afternoon, but something seemed a little off with the lyrics. Wait… that’s because the song was about Jose Bautista.

There’s an internet video out there done to the beat of Boom Boom Pow, but it’s a remix dedicated to the power surge from Mr. Bautista this season. The Blue Jays were loving it, a handful of players crowding around a cell phone to watch the short music video.

As they howled with laughter, Bautista stood a few feet away at his locker, doing his best not to take part in the fun. There’s no denying that he was enjoying the moment, though. After the players finished watching the video and yucking it up, one came over and gave Bautista a big hug from behind.

Blue Jays manager Cito loves to travel, so it’s no big surprise that he has a list of trips he’d like to take now that he has retirement in his sights.

Before it’s all said and done, Gaston would like to do a tour around Europe, see Australia and New Zealand, and visit South Africa.

First things first, though, Gaston’s heading to Hawaii in October. While baseball is throwing its annual postseason party, Gaston is going to be kicking back on a beach with some good friends.

“I’m taking Geno and Nick Leyva to Hawaii,” Gaston said, “just to show them my appreciation for what they did for me over these years I’ve had them around, and my gratitude for what they’ve done for me.”

Leyva is currently Gaston’s bench coach and he’s worked on the Jays staff under the manager since 2008, and previously from 1993-97. “Geno” is Gene Tenace, who worked as Gaston’s hitting coach in the 2008-09 seasons, and also was a part of Toronto’s staff from 1990-97 with Gaston.

NO. 49: Jose Bautista was fortunate that his 48th home run — one that set the Blue Jays franchise record for homers in one season — did not leave Fenway Park on Friday night. It fell a few feet short, a fan threw it back and Bautista had it in hand shortly after reaching the dougout after his home run trot.

No such luck on Saturday.

In the first inning, Bautista drilled a 1-1 pitch from Boston’s Josh Beckett, sending it towering over the Green Monster and bouncing down Lansdowne Street. That marked Bautista’s 49th of the year and his eighth against the Red Sox, marking his most against any one team this season.

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